Paris arrives this Sunday at the DMA with the opening of Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries. We are excited to be one of only two venues presenting the exhibition and wanted to share with you some of the installation process. Join Dr. Heather MacDonald, The Lillian and James H. Clark Associate Curator of European Art and curator of the DMA presentation, at 2:00 p.m. this Sunday for an Opening Day Exhibition Tour. Check out all of our upcoming related programming here.
Posts Tagged 'Dallas Museum of Art'
Installing the Boulevards of 19th-Century Paris
Published October 8, 2012 Behind-the-Scenes , Dallas , Exhibitions 3 CommentsTags: Dallas Museum of Art, France, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, posters
Calling all Dallasites
Published October 4, 2012 Archive , Behind-the-Scenes , Collections , Contemporary Art , Curatorial , Dallas , DFW ClosedTags: Contemporary Art, Dallas Museum of Art

“Birds on the wire” Photograph from the opening of a 500X Gallery show, February 13, 1978. 500X Gallery Records, 1977-1996.
In 2013 the Dallas Museum of Art will celebrate a milestone in our institutional history: the 1963 merger of the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Art with the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The DMA is marking this occasion by launching an initiative to show how this moment was a starting point for community-wide interest in and support of contemporary art.

Brochure for the “Dallas Art ’78” exhibition at Dallas City Hall, Publications and Printed Materials.
By looking at the North Texas art scene over the past five decades, we hope to bring greater public awareness to the richly varied but widely undiscovered history of the area’s contemporary art avant-garde. People, places, and events are the subjects of this project, as we look outside the Museum to topics like the emergence of the gallery scene in the late 1960s with galleries like Valley House, C. Troup Gallery, Haydon Calhoun, Mary Nye, and more, and the establishment of an artists’ community as collectives take shape (the Oak Lawn Gang in the 1960s, the Oak Cliff Four and the “842s” in the 1970s, Toxic Shock in the 1980s, A.R.T.E. and the Good/Bad Art Collective in the 1990s, etc.) and artist-run spaces emerge, like A.U.M. Gallery, D.W. Coop, 500X Gallery, and Stout McCourt Gallery.

Gallery announcement for David McCullough’s studio exhibition of his work with James Surls in December, c. 1976. Paul Rogers Harris Collection of Dallas and Texas Gallery Announcements.

Gallery announcement for “Dubious Edge” exhibition at Theatre Gallery, c. 1987. Paul Rogers Harris Collection of Dallas and Texas Gallery Announcements.

Gallery announcement for “el clumsio” group exhibition at Angstrom Gallery, November – December, 1996. Paul Rogers Harris Collection of Dallas and Texas Gallery Announcements.
Over the past year, we have developed the content that will form the basis of an exhibition scheduled to open at the Museum in May 2013. During this time, I have conducted oral history interviews with artists, arts administrators, collectors, and writers; waded through thousands of gallery announcements dating as far back as the late 1960s; burned my eyes from looking through miles of microfilmed collections; and done my best to get the word out that the DMA wants to know YOUR story.

Poster for the Old Oak Cliff Kinetic Sculpture Parade sponsored by the Oak Cliff Preservation League, September 21, 1985. Paul Rogers Harris Collection of Dallas and Texas Gallery Announcements.
So let’s hear it – do you have anything you would like to share with us regarding your experience with contemporary arts in North Texas? Is there anything you are certain MUST be part of this project? This is my formal open call to Dallasites: as we develop the content for the exhibition, we are going to do our best to represent Dallas and its surroudning arts community over the past fifty years, but we do need your help. What is sitting in your closet? Do you have photographs from gallery openings or performances? Records from your gallery? Press releases announcing your show? Publications that help to document the “scene”?
The exhibition is only the first step as we present to you what we have found. In the coming years, we hope to add to the DMA Archives, making it the primary repository for the history of contemporary art in North Texas. So if you have something you’d like to share (be it tangible ephemera or abstract memories), please do not hesitate to contact me at larnold@DallasMuseumofArt.org. I look forward to hearing from you!

“500X in a Box,” box of a single work by every member of 500X in 1989. Charles Dee Mitchell Collection.
Leigh Arnold is the Dallasites Research Project Coordinator at the Dallas Museum of Art.
The Man with the Top Hat
Published September 27, 2012 Creativity 1 CommentTags: Art, Center for Creative Connections, creativity, Dallas Museum of Art, exhibition, Posters of Paris
In preparation for the upcoming exhibition Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries, the Center for Creative Connections staff has been prototyping a new interactive art-making activity. Inspired by poster-making at the Denver Art Museum, we are including a hands-on poster-making space in the exhibition. Our current prototype activity has a limited array of characters which our visitors can choose and combine to create their own poster; but as you can see, creativity still flourishes. Though each of these three posters below uses the man with the top hat in a similar placement in the composition, the context in which he is placed is quite different.
On the left is an 8-year-old boy’s romantic combination of the man with the top hat (with a slender cigarette) and Jane Avril. In the middle, a young man has replaced that slender cigarette with a hefty cigar. All of the romance is gone with the shadowy figures in the background looking on as the man with the top hat strangles a poor rooster. Pictured on the right is a collaborative piece created by a group of women from the Art Institute of Fort Worth. Each woman took a turn adding to the composition in what ended up as a playful hodge-podge.
Swing by the Dallas Museum of Art from October 14 – January 20 to see Posters of Paris and create your own poster! What will you do with the man with the top hat?
Jessica Nelson
C3 Gallery Coordinator
Bon Voyage to The Icebergs
Published September 26, 2012 American Art , Behind-the-Scenes , Curatorial 2 CommentsTags: Better Angels of Our Nature: The Arts during the Civil War and Reconstruction, D.C., Dallas Museum of Art, Frederic Edwin Church, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington
Considered by some to be the DMA’s Mona Lisa, Frederic Edwin Church’s The Icebergs has been a destination icon for museum visitors ever since it was placed on display in 1979. Measuring slightly over 7 feet high and 11 feet wide in its frame, and weighing a cumbersome 425 pounds, it is the anchor of the American galleries in both a figurative and literal sense. Consequently, its presence is as keenly felt as its absence. Yet, there are times when a museum must make a sacrifice—albeit reluctantly–in the support of new art historical scholarship.

Frederic Edwin Church, “The Icebergs,” 1861, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt, 1979.28
The Icebergs is to play a pivotal role in the presentation of the upcoming exhibition The Civil War and American Art, which will open at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Longtime members of the DMA will be pleased to know that this important exhibition has been organized by the DMA’s former curator of American Art Dr. Eleanor Jones Harvey, who has been with the Smithsonian American Art Museum since 2003. The exhibition will feature key works by America’s greatest artists of the era. These works channeled the conflicting emotions of a nation coming to grips with a reality that altered the very fabric of its identity and transformed its once unassailable optimism into dread for the unknown outcomes that lay ahead.

Frederic Edwin Church, “Cotopaxi,” 1862, oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Gibbs-Williams Fund, Dexter M. Ferry Jr. Fund, Merrill Fund, Beatrice W. Rogers Fund, and Richard A. Manoogian Fund, Photo courtesy Detroit Institute of Arts
Key to charting the path from America’s loss of faith to its eventual hope of redemption will be four monumental landscapes by Frederic Church: The Icebergs, Cotopaxi, Aurora Borealis, and Rainy Season in the Tropics. The first two works have often been paired in a binary context of arctic and tropics, but, in this presentation, their multiple layers of meaning are to be revealed. In the case of The Icebergs, Church changed its title to The North for its debut just twelve days after the beginning of the war in 1861. He also donated all the ticket proceeds to the Union Red Cross. In his painting of the following year, Cotopaxi, Church depicted paradise rent asunder by the volcanic and explosive forces of nature as a symbolic reflection of the cleaving of a nation. A month before the end of the war, Church exhibited Aurora Borealis, wherein the darkness of the endless arctic winter echoed the weariness that dominated the American psyche. In Rainy Season in the Tropics, presented in 1866 after the close of the war, Church delivered the viewer—and a nation—from its trials and tribulations into a paradise redeemed by a nourishing rain and the promise of a double rainbow.

Frederic Edwin Church, “Aurora Borealis,” 1865, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Eleanor Blodgett, Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum

Frederic Edwin Church, “Rainy Season in the Tropics,” 1866, oil on canvas, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection
For those wanting to bid a fond farewell to The Icebergs before its departure, please be sure to do so before mid-October, when it will be removed from view. If you would like to see the DMA’s masterpiece in the context of the exhibition, it will be at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., November 16, 2012–April 27, 2013, and then in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art May 21–September 2, 2013.
Sue Canterbury is The Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Welcome Back Volunteers!
Published September 25, 2012 Art & Teaching ClosedTags: Art, art and games, collections, Dallas Museum of Art, game, Go van Gogh, program, teaching, training, volunteers, works of art
Earlier this month Go van Gogh staff welcomed back the returning volunteers for our first training session of the year. We kicked off the day with an artist personality quiz, revealing our artist dopplegangers from the collection. As someone who has always walked to the beat of her own drum, it was no surprise that I turned out to be a Georgia O’Keeffe. Looking around the room, I noticed a good mix of rebelious Jackson Pollocks, bold and brilliant Pablo Picassos, calm and tranquil Claude Monets, and unique and inquisitive Frank Gehrys.
The rest of the day was primarily spent playing a trivia game that Melissa, Amy, and I created based on the Arts of Mexico Go van Gogh program. Picassos, O’Keeffes, Monets, Pollocks, and Gehrys were all mixed together into teams to compete against each other for the honorable title of Trivia Game Winner. With a variety of questions from true-false to multiple choice, teams had to race against the clock to form their answer before time ran out. However, not all the questions were so straight forward; the game also featured difficult bonus questions and hands-on teaching challenges that warranted extra points. Getting the players on their feet, a teaching challenge could ask the team to pose as a work of art in a frozen tableau, solve a puzzle, or lead an activity from the program as if they were teaching in a classroom. To catch a glimpse of all the fun, check out the slideshow below.
At the end of the day, volunteers took the time to reflect on the session. Here’s how many of them described the day:
- Lots of good high energy
- A good refresher to the program
- Engaging and fun, loved the game!
Teachers, don’t forget to schedule a Go van Gogh classroom visit (or two, or three…) this school year.
Hannah Burney
Community Teaching Programs Assistant
Back Where It Started: Dallas Video Festival
Published September 19, 2012 Dallas , DFW , Guest Blog Post , Special Events 2 CommentsTags: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Video Festival, video art
Coming up in just ten short days, the Dallas Video Festival will launch its 25th Anniversary Festival here at the DMA. The festival will include screenings of feature-length works as well as shorts, animation, and other new media, “The Texas Show,” workshops, and more!
Recently, I spoke with Bart Weiss, DVF Artistic Director and all around “ video guy,” about the history of the festival.
So, the Video Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, back at its original home venue, the DMA. How did the Video Festival start and how did it happen to start at the DMA?
A dear and longtime friend of mine, John Held, Jr., was working on a program that was going to take place at the DMA called Video as a Creative Medium. It was a two-evening program; the first evening featured local video artists and the second evening featured video art from around the world, including works from Michael Smith and other up-and-coming video artists. It was a very successful program. Afterwards, I was chatting with John and Melissa Berry, the program manager at the DMA at the time, and just blurted out, “We should do this again next year, and for four days!” Thus the idea of the Video Festival was born.
I should also mention that on the first evening of the Video as a Creative Medium program, I met a lovely woman named Susan Teegarden, who is now my wife!
The Video Festival ran the first few years basically out of the DMA’s programming office and was not its own organization. Two of the founding board members of the official new organization, The Video Association of Dallas, were those very helpful and supportive DMA staffers–Melissa Berry and Sue Graze (the DMA’s contemporary art curator at the time).
What are a couple of your fondest memories of video festivals over the years?
Of course, I have many, many fond memories of past festivals, but one that really sticks out to me was one I could have never planned for. I cannot recall the exact year, but we had John Wylie Price participating in the festival. We were doing a program that included showing clips of the television show Amos ’n’ Andy. John was part of a conversation that debated whether this show was beneficial or damaging to the African American community since it often played upon stereotypes in the story lines.
We also had Steve Allen in town and he was going to be leading the program that was to follow Price’s. Allen attended Price’s program and instead of doing the schedule program, he ended up continuing the conversation with Price about how many communities–Jewish, African American, and others–often use humor to deal with the pain they experience as part of their history.
An absolutely incredible dialogue erupted and this moment is one that I think of often.
What can we expect at this year’s festival?
There are so many great things planned for this year’s festival–to pick out just a couple would be like looking down at your hands and deciding which finger on your hand was your favorite!
In general though, this year’s festival will feature many incredible Dallas filmmakers, who this year have made some of the greatest work of their lives. Some of these major local players whose work will be featured include (but are not limited to) Julia Dyer, Alan Govenar, Mark Birnbaum, and of course Allen and Cynthia Salzman Mondell, for whom we will hold a great tribute. All of this programming coming together so wonderfully is a statement to how important video art is, and doing the festival at the Museum makes it all the more powerful.
We hope to see you at the festival, September 27-30. For more details and to buy tickets and passes, visit the Dallas Video Festival’s website.
If you need further convincing to come check out the festival, here are a few pictures from Video Fests over the years.
Denise Helbing is the Manager of Partner Programs at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Meet the 2012-2013 McDermott Interns
Published September 17, 2012 Curatorial , Education ClosedTags: Dallas Museum of Art, internship, McDermott Internship program
Each year we welcome a new group of McDermott interns working in the curatorial and education departments. The 2012-2013 group started at the beginning of the month and include Emily Brown, Emily Schiller, Alex Vargo, Andrea Lesovsky, Alec Unkovic, Hannah Fullgraf, Pilar Wong, and Danielle Schulz. You will hear from each of the interns on Uncrated throughout their nine months at the DMA. Learn more about the McDermott Internships on the DMA’s website; you can apply for your chance to be a 2013-2014 McDermott intern in January.
Fresh New Faces
Published September 13, 2012 People ClosedTags: Dallas Museum of Art, McDermott Interns
Our Museum offices are abuzz with a group of new McDermott Interns, who began working with our Curatorial and Education Divisions last week. Two new faces who will be blogging with us over the next nine months are Alex Vargo, McDermott Education Intern for Gallery Teaching, and Pilar Wong, McDermott Education Intern for Community Teaching. In addition to the blog, they will also contribute their talent to our docent and tour programs, teacher programs, and Go van Go outreach.
Welcome to the DMA ladies! Why don’t you share with us a bit of your background.
Alex: I graduated in 2011 from Oberlin College in Ohio, where I studied Art History. I’m originally from a suburb of Philadelphia, where, in high school, I rowed out of boathouse row by the art museum and, yes, ran the famous Rocky steps. After college, I returned to Philly, where I worked in the Family Programs Departments of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation. Before this internship, I had never been to Dallas, but I’m not totally new to Texas. I had been living in Marfa since February working at the Chinati Foundation. This is my first time living in a Texas city and I’m excited to explore more of the state!
Pilar: I was raised throughout the beautiful southwest in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado—Texas is the farthest east I’ve ever lived! I received my BA from Stanford University in Comparative Studies of Race and Ethnicity with a minor in Education. During my time at Stanford, I worked at the Cantor Arts Center which hosts the 2nd largest collection of Rodin sculptures in the world! After moving to Dallas, I volunteered at the Dallas Holocaust Museum and worked at the Dallas Heritage Village.
Now that you’ve been introduced to our collection, which artwork would be your BFF and why?
Alex: Donald Judd’s Untitled (1988). Coming from Marfa, where Judd lived and worked when he wasn’t in New York, I feel like we are old friends.
Pilar: I absolutely love Maurice de Vlaminck’s Bougival. The vivid colors make me smile every time I see it, but the depth of the painting ensures that I would never get tired of seeing it day after day and imagining myself in the landscape.
If you could spend the night in one of our galleries, which one would you choose?
Alex: If I could spend the night in a gallery and I could touch the works of art, I would love to be on level 4 in the Form/Unformed: Design from 1960 to the Present show. The Fernando and Humberto Campana Banquete Chair with Pandas calls to me!
Pilar: I would definitely want to spend the night on level 4 with American Decorative Arts so I could test out the fantastic four-poster bed from the 1840’s!
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Alex: Tripe. I love pho!
Pilar: I attended the State Fair of Texas last year and tried several deep fried treats including bubblegum, lemonade, beer, cheese curds, and pickles. I’m looking forward to this year’s offerings!
You might see these lovely ladies around the next time you visit the Museum or one of our programs, so be sure to give them a warm Texas welcome!
Artworks shown:
- Donald Judd, Untitled, 1988, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum League Purchase Fund, General Acquisitions Fund, H. Harold Wineburgh Fund and gift of an anonymous donor
- Maurice de Vlaminck, Bougival, c. 1905, Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection
- Fernando Campana and Humberto Campana, Banquete chair with pandas, designed 2006, Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit
- Crawford Riddell, Bed, c. 1844, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of three anonymous donors, Friends of the Decorative Arts Fund, General Acquisitions Fund, Discretionary Decorative Arts Fund, and the Boshell Family Foundation
Sarah Coffey
Assistant to the Chair of Learning Initiatives
iMuseum: iCame, iSaw, iDid
Published September 12, 2012 Behind-the-Scenes , Dallas , Education , Late Nights 1 CommentTags: Austin Silent Disco, Cornelis Saftleven, Dallas Museum of Art, docent, Gerald Murphy, iMuseum, Late Nights
Next week our September Late Night will be our “iMuseum 2.0” event, where visitors can use technology to explore the DMA and participate in new, interactive programs. You will be able to text a work of art with your questions, listen to the winner of our Be Our Main Stage Act contest, go on a Choose Your Own Adventure tour, have conversations with our curators in the galleries, go on our Twitter Treasure Hunts, and more!
Here are just a few of the new programs we will be offering on September 21:
Text a Work of Art
Do you sometimes wonder what a work of art is thinking or feeling? Well now you can find out when you text a work of art your question and get a response! There will be three works of art answering your questions throughout the night, including Cornelis Saftleven’s College of Animals, so start thinking of your questions.

Cornelis Saftleven, “College of Animals,” 1655, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation
Silent Soundtrack
Visitors will be able to check out a pair of headphones, provided by Austin Silent Disco, se -up with three different music channels. Each channel will have a soundtrack picked by DMA staff for a specific gallery. After you listen to our choices, we invite you to share your own ideas about the music you would choose to accompany a gallery or work of art.
Personal Tours
Check out a docent for a personal thirty-minute tour of two to three works in the DMA’s collection. Choose from themes like Love & Lust, Big & Small, Land & Sea, Work & Play, Secrets & Stories, Gods & Heroes, or Good & Bad. Docents will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

One of the works you will hear about on your personal tour.
Mask, Mexico, state of Veracruz, Rio Pesquero, Gulf Coast Olmec culture c. 900-500 B.C., jadeite, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene McDermott and The Eugene McDermott Foundation and Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated
Art Trivia
Do you know how many paintings by Gerald Murphy are in the DMA’s collection? If so, participate on your own or bring a group of friends and play as a team, in our Art Trivia contest. There will be several rounds and the winners of each round will win great prizes!

Gerald Murphy, “Razor,” 1924, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of the artist
Stacey Lizotte is Head of Adult Programming and Multimedia Services at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Back to School: From the Classroom to the DMA Collection
Published September 11, 2012 works of art 2 CommentsTags: Art, collections, connections, Contemporary Art, Dallas Museum of Art, interdisciplinary, landscapes, literature, painting, sculpture, Sculpture Garden, students
Now that all the kiddos are settled back into school, I began to think about how the Museum‘s collection could inspire them to keep learning outside the classroom. With the most common school subjects in mind, I decided to find works of art that might help them with their studies. Check out my pairings below.
Math
Upon first glance, it’s hard to tell if this large scale sculpture is symmetrical or asymmetrical. It takes a careful walk all the way around the work of art to find out.

Untitled, Ellsworth Kelly, 1982-1983, Dallas Museum of Art, commission made possible through funds donated by Michael J. Collins and matching grants from The 500, Inc., and the 1982 Tiffany & Company benefit opening
History
An historical figure, period, or event is often the subject of a work of art. This particular work features all three. Some of the imagery in Skyway includes President Kennedy and images of space exploration. Overall, the haphazard, overlapping composition captures the tumultuous time of change in the Sixties. What else does this colorful collage tell you about the Sixties?

Skyway, Robert Rauschenberg, 1964, Dallas Museum of Art, The Roberta Coke Camp Fund, The 500, Inc., Mr. and Mrs. Mark Shepherd, Jr. and General Acquisitions Fund
English
Some works of art are inspired by literature, like Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire. While it’s easy to find Cinderella in this beautiful work of art, it’s not as easy to tell which part of the Cinderella story is being depicted. Come to the Museum to get a closer look at all the details a photograph can’t capture, so you can guess which part of the classic fairy tale this could be. I’ll give you a big hint: there’s more than one right answer!

Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire, Thomas Sully, 1843, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Pauline Allen Gill Foundation
Geography
From the icy waters of the North Atlantic to the rolling hills of the French-Italian Riviera, wandering through the Museum galleries can take you on a trip around the world to a variety of climates and terrains. How many new places can you discover on your next visit?

Valle Buona, Near Bordighera, Claude Monet, 1884, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation Incorporated
Homework
Hopefully these collection connections will make learning in the Museum more fun for you and the kiddos than studying is for this little boy:

The First Thorns of Knowledge (Les premières épines de la science), Hugues Merle, 1864, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation Incorporated
Hannah Burney
Community Teaching Programs Assistant